Ja’s dragon-boat racers get expert’s nod

JAMAICA’s squad at the Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival yesterday got the approving nod of Canadian coach, Anthony Cao, who went out with the team for the first of two training sessions ahead of today’s start of competition at Goodman’s Bay.

Among 27 teams from North America and the Caribbean, Jamaica fields two teams in the open and mixed-team 200-metre events, 17 competitors, 13 male and four female.Cao, who has coached competitively since 2014, said despite needing “a few tweaks”, the Jamaicans “looked pretty good from his vantage point at the bow of the boat.

“I think they are ready to race, a few tweaks here and there aside. I think they are very adaptive. The caller and the helmsman are very experienced,” Cao noted.

‘It’s a great sport’

Cao, who was in Jamaica in June for the island’s inaugural Dragon Boat Festival, helping with the finish-line logistics, said the sport is highly adaptive.

“It’s a great sport, an especially adaptive and accepting team sport. We have adaptations for any form of disability, extra deployments to add to boats so anybody can paddle.

“There are also a lot of corporate team-building events in which corporations reach out to train employees how to work together,” he added.

Though weather could factor today, considering yesterday’s mid-afternoon training was interrupted by lightning on the horizon, Cao doesn’t foresee rough seas affecting scheduling.

“With these new boats, they won’t flip. It’s a great experience for everyone, which the weather won’t affect much,” he assured.

Jamaica’s mixed team includes the Russell trio, matriarch Chue-Ping Wong Russell joined by daughters Danielle and Cassandra. Denise Romero-Williams is the other female competitor for the event.

The open-event team will be banking on the experience of Raúl S. Fernández-Calienes, a dragon-boat racer of Jamaica and Cuban parentage. Fernández-Calienes, now with the SACA Golden Dragons, based in Tampa, started with the Blazing Paddles racing team in Hollywood, Florida. Fernández-Calienes has raced in Florida, Alabama, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas, and Jamaica. His racing highlights include winning two silver medals at the Pan American Club Crew Championships, at age 12, in Panama.

He was selected for the United States’ national Dragon Boat team, junior division, and travelled to Brandenburg, Germany, where he represented the USA at the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships, winning six medals in both open and mixed junior divisions.

Captain Jason McKay, Gregory Forsyth, Neil Yap Sam, Akino Lindsay, Richard Stone, Sharic Bowen, Rushaine Tyrell, Oshane Wilson, Leighton Scott, Delano Francis and Arthur Barrows complete Jamaica’s squad.